Rewards And Consequences

Abstract

This research evaluates the rational choice theory. It describes how the theory came to be and how people use this theory to commit crimes. People have needs and many of these needs are not reachable by some people. Instead of finding alternate ways to meet some of the needs of people, they turn to crime. A call girl can make as much as 1000 a night. Will society approve of this? Crimes are being committed at all levels of the caste system, from the poor to the rich. The rational choice theory explains that humans have needs and the human must plan to get these needs.

Rewards and Consequences

The Rational Choice Theory

Here is a situation that is happening in our country. There is a person working at a fast food restaurant. That person finds out a way to make money without anyone knowing. The best time for this scheme is working the grave yard shift. There are only two people working that shift. The person knows the prices of combo meals and the prices of single sandwiches. When a car pulls up to the drive thru, that person charges the customer for the complete meal, but only rings up a single item on the register. That person knows the consequences of being caught but they continue doing this all night, not to every car but only those few that the person knows that will spend extra money. Before their shift is over, the person calculates their gains and removes the money from the register. This is using the rational choice theory. Many people have found ways to make themselves richer and happier. Unfortunately, many of these people are doing things illegally. These people are stealing from businesses and from the consumer. People are making decisions to commit a crime on their own. They are assessing a certain situation and taking advantage of the situation. These people are finding ways to beat the system. The system is the law. These people know that there is a great risk in certain situations, but they are willing to take a chance to find satisfaction in their lives. All the calculations and planning to take advantage of a situation is thought to be rational and the people committing the crime know the consequences of their actions. Thus criminals use the Rational Choice Theory.

Rational Choice Theory

To understand why people engage in deviant and/or criminal acts, many researchers, as well as the general public, have begun to focus on the element of personal choice. An understanding of personal choice is commonly based in a conception of rationality or rational choice (Keel, 2005). Sociologists and political scientists have tried to build theories around the idea that all action is fundamentally "rational" in character and that people calculate the likely costs and benefits of any action before deciding what to do (Scott, 2000). This is the basis of what is known as Rational Choice Theory. Rational Choice Theory is the view that crime is a function of a decision making process in which the potential offender weighs the potential causes and benefits of an illegal act (Seigel, 2006). For the rational choice approach, there are personal factors and situational factors. The personal factors are the need for money, happiness, revenge, or thrills. The situational factors basically pertain to how the police or law enforcement is in a certain area or how easy it is to get to the target. The reasoning criminal evaluates the risk of apprehension, the seriousness of expected punishment, the potential value of the criminal enterprise, and the immediate need for criminal gain (Siegel, 2006). People will engage in criminal and deviant activities if they do not fear apprehension and punishment (Keel, 2005).

Many people can't achieve all the things that they want, so they have to make certain decisions on how to obtain those things. Some people may get a second job while others plot and plan ways to obtain those things even if it means breaking the law. Those individuals usually have a second plan because they anticipate different outcomes for that course of action. According to the rational choice perspective, benefits can be both internal (for example, monetary gain) and external (for example, achieving political recognition) to offenders (Dugan, 2005). Those individuals choose the alternative that is likely to give them the greatest satisfaction (Scott, 2000). The Rational Choice Theory and the Routine Activity Theory almost go together. For many of these people, the criminal activities that they get into become routine. Routine activities are recurrent and prevalent activities which provide for basic population and individual needs (Apel, R. & Dugan, L., 2005). Those who start stealing from businesses will continue to steal and those who are used to drug dealing will continue to sell drugs even though they know about the consequences of being caught.

Rational Choice Theory can be traced back to Cesare Beccaria, an Italian social thinker (Siegel, 2006). He believed people must be motivated by fearing punishment. Beccaria believed that every crime must be punished and the punishment must fit the crime. If punishment was the same for all crimes, Beccaria believed the criminal would commit the more serious crime because the punishment was the same. If the punishment for robbery is the same for rape or murder, the criminal might as well rape and kill a person because the punishment is the same (Siegel, 2006). One of the pioneering figures in establishing the Rational Choice Theory is George Homans (Scott, 2000). He set out a framework for the exchange theory which were assumptions drawn by behaviorist psychology. Social interaction as a process of social exchange, which involves the exchange of approval of behaviors and economic action, is an exchange of goods and services. Homans' exchange theory was rejected by many, but it remained as the basis of subsequent discussions that helped develop more formal models of theories including the Rational Choice Theory.

Why people commit crimes?

Beccaria believed people are egotistical and self-centered (Siegel, 2006). People have many personal problems and they may turn to crime because of greed, jealousy, anger, lust, and revenge, just to name a few. There are many determinants of human actions. The various things that a person might do vary in their costs and they vary in their rewards (Scott, 2000). The rewards do not have to have a monetary value. Some rewards are human satisfaction, such as the feeling of revenge or the thrill of breaking the law. On the other hand, there will always be a cost on crimes being committed. Revenge can lead to guilt while shop lifting can lead to imprisonment.